Saxophone



April 28, 1931.

o. BloLcATl 1,803,229

SAXOPHONE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 22, 1929 uvvENraR @resi-eBlohcavlrA ATTURNEK Patented Apr. 2s, 1931 PATENT OFFICE 08F-ESTEBIOLCATI, 0F WEMBLEY, ENGLAND SAXOPHONE AppIicaton filed. June 2,2,1929, Serial No. 273,039, and in Great Britain July 17, 1928.

This invention relates to saxophones and more particularly tothe keymechanism for Aplaying the notes high D, Dt, E and F, and the object ofthe invention is to simplify 6 the usual or present playing of thesenotes with the side ot the left hand.

According to the invention a saxophone is provided with a set of fingerplates for playing the notes high D, Dit, E and F, which '10 are placednear the usual finger plates for the notes low D, E and F and so thatthey can be operated by theinger tips of the right hand.

lIn order `that the invention may be more readily understood, referencewill now be made to thek accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is anelevation looking at the right hand side Aof a saxophone provided withthe 20 new finver v lates accordinof to the resent e e, P

invention, many of the ordinary keys and valve plates of the saxophonebeing removed for the sake of simplicity in illustration.

Figure 2 vis a rear elevation of the same *.25 partly broken away,

Figure 8 is a view similarly broken away showing a side elevation of thesaxophone viewed from the left hand side.

Figure 4 is a detail cross sectional view through the parts for playinghigh E;

Figure 5 is a detail cross sectional view through the mechanism foroperating key l g FigureA 6 is a cross sectional view through the partsfor operating key d',

Figure 7 is an enlarged elevation of the l intermediate portion of theinstrument, and Figure 8 is a view of the parts of Figure 7 taken at aright angle thereto.

As shown in the drawings, the saxophone is provided with the usual keysd, d and f for playin@r the notes high D, D@ and F, which keys will berecognized as part of the conventional instrument as at present in use.

According to the present invention the instrument is also provided witha set of key plates 1, 2, 8, 4 which are placed near the usual lingerplates for the notes low D, E and F, such as shown in U. S. Patent No.1,688,219, granted September 4, 1928, to H. J. Waters. These fingerplates are set in,

line substantially parallel with the line of the finger plates for thenotes low D, E and F and are arranged so that they can be played withthe tips of the lingers ot the right hand. The spindle or rock shaft 5which is operated in the conventional instrument by a key accessible tothe right hand for playing the note high E by lifting the valve plate 9is broken at the point 6 and instead of being carried straight down theside of the instruw ment and iixed at its lower end to a key plate leveras usual is'connected by a cranked red 7 to a short spindle 8 pivotallysupported in line with the spindle 5 and adapted to be rocked by thelinger plate 8 which thus takes the place ot the linger plate usuallyprovided for Aplaying the note high As the operation of the tinger plate8 turns the spindle 5 the opposite direction to that usual, the valveplate 9 is mounted on a separate fulcrum 10 instead of being` mounteddirectly in the spindle 5 as .usual and is operated by a tappet lever 11on the spindle 5 so that it will be opened when this spindle is rockedby depressing the key plate 8.

The key plate 1 is carried by a rock shaft or spindle 12 which isdisposed in line with the spindles 5 and 8 and is provided at its upperend with a tappe/t lever 18 acting through a two-armed lever V14 upon alever 15 which is fixed to a rock shait 16 carrying a tappet lever 17engaging a tappet 18 carried bythe valve plate 190i the key d, so th atthis valve plate is lifted by the operation of the key plate 1. Toaccommodate the two-armed lever 14 the rock shaft 2O (which is part ofthe ordinary known mechanism Jlor operating the octave valve 21 from thekey plate 22) is interrupted by a cranked portion 28 which accommodatesa spindle 24 disposed in line with the spindle 20. The spindle 24 isspigoted at its ends 1n the crank plates of the part 28 and the lever 14is pivotally mounted on the spindle 24. The rock shaft 16 is supportedat its lower end by a fulcrum support 26 fixed to the instrument and isspigoted at its upper end to a spindle 27 whose upperwend is supportedin another fulcrum plate 26 lixed to the instrument.

The spindle 27 carries @Waarmed lever 28 adapted to lift the valve plate29 of the key d and actuated by a lever 30 carried by the spindle 24.The spindle 24 also carries a lever 31 operated by a tappet lever 32 ona cranked rod 33 which is connected at its lower end to a short spindle34 which carries the key plate 2. The spindle 34 is supported betweenadjacent ends of the spindles 8 and 12 by spigot and socket joints.

The finger' plate 4 is arranged to lift the valve plate 35 normallyoperated by the key f. For this purpose advantage is taken of thecranked lever 36 which forms part of the ordinary saxophone and whichserves to lift the valve 35 of the key f automatically when the key 38(shown in dotted lines in Figure l) is depressed. The key plate 4 iscarried on the end of a spindle 39 whose upper end carries an arm 40engaging the lever 36 so that the valve 35 will be lifted when the key38 is depressed. The key 4l shown in Figures l and 2 of the drawings isthe auxiliary key usually provided on a saxophone as an alternativemethod of playing the note middle C by lifting the valve plate 41a. 'Ihekey 42 is the key for pla-ying the note Af by lifting the valve plate43. These two keys have their arms bent upwards and sideways as shown sothat the key plates vwill lie over the cranked rod 7 but otherwise theyare not different from the keys usually provided on a vsaxophone forlifting the valve plates 41a and 43.

It will now be seen that of the four linger plates l, 2, 3 and 4provided in accordance with the present invention, the plate l lifts thevalve 19, the plate 2 lifts the valve 29 and the plate 4 lifts the valve35, whilst the plate 3 takes the place ofthe finger plate usuallyprovided in line with the finger plates 41 and 42 for lifting the valve9. A

In the use of the instrument, the keys d, d and f may be worked in theordinary way for lifting the valves 19,729 and 35 and the key plate 3for lifting the valve 9. `When the operation of the keys (Z, cl and fbecomes difficult, however, as is often the case, the player may use thetips of the fingers of his right hand to Work the keys 1, 2 and 4 as analternative method of lifting the valves 19, 29 and 35.

In order tov facilitate the use of these keys it is desirable that thekey l should be depressed automatically whenever any of the I keys 2, 3and 4 is depressed and for this purpose the plate l is provided with anextension la which extends under the key plates 2, 3 and 4 so as `to bedepressed whenever any of these keys is depressed. l

It will be understood that the keys d, d and f can be omitted if desiredand the keys l, 2 and 4 relied upon entirely to take their place.

I claim l. 'In a saxophone, mechanism operable for playing the noteshigh D, Dit, E and F having a set of finger plates placed near the usualfinger plates for the notes low D, E and F so that they can be operatedby the nger tips of the right hand.

2. A saxophone provided with mechanism having finger plates for playingthe notes D, Dit, E and F as claimed in claim l wherein the said fingerplates comprise four plates one of which takes the place of the plateheretofore provided for playing the note high E, such four plates beingset in a line substantially parallel with the line of the finger platesfor the notes low D, E and F.

3. A saxophone according to claim l wherein the said finger platescomprise four plates one of which takes the place of the plateheretofore provided for playing the note high E, such four plates beingset in a line substantially parallel with the line of the finger platesyfor the notes low D, E and F, one of said finger plates having anextension lying under the other three so as to be operated automaticallywhen any of those three plates is depressed substantially as described.

4. A saxophone provided with a mechanism having a set of finger platesoperatively connected with the valves for playing the notes high D, Dt,E and F located near the tone hol-es for lower D, E and F.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

Y ORESTE BIOLCATI.

